I’ve been thinking about the question of whether startups should do marketing. It’s conventional wisdom to say that marketing isn’t important, since quality products should sell themselves.

I’m inclined to agree with this, but I do often see counter-examples.

Let’s forget about online customer acquisition and database marketing for a moment.  What I’m talking about is more along the lines of PR, stunts, and ongoing communication with potential customers.  For example:

– Uber Pedicabs at SXSW

– The Hipster Splash Page

– Living Social’s “Free the Gorilla” Stunt

Not to mention more conventional marketing that happens all time time like hosting events, blogging, tweeting, etc. 

These efforts aren’t scientific.  I don’t think they even really lead to sustainable competitive advantage.  But they help services get noticed.  And that’s not insignificant in the consumer internet world where there are so many new services launching all the time.

I think it’s easy for an early stage company to get obsessed too early in tweaking and optimizing their customer acquisition tactics.  The truth is, you are probably flying blind, and that’s ok.  I really like Vin Vacanti’s advice on getting your first 1000 users.  Just getting them is a feat.  I’m increasingly of the opinion that achieving your first 1000 users is not science, it’s hand-to-hand combat.

The benefit of doing this is that you generate a meaningful amount of data to really start working with.  Along the way, you probably will end up interacting with your users in a more raw and informative way – you’ll delight some, you’ll piss others off, you’ll be surprised by many, and you’ll learn a ton. 

More importantly – it prevents you from hesitating.  Later in a company’s life, it’s fine to plan marketing efforts very methodically.  But early on, I don’t think it matters as much.  

Most importantly, it pushes you to be creative.  You have to do something unique to get noticed.  And startups don’t have the marketing budget to compete for share-of-voice in normal marketing channels.  Funny enough, I find that companies that are most creative about marketing early on continue to build upon that creativity as they scale.  It’s not a one-off thing.  

Let me be totally clear – I’m not a fan of big, splashy launches.  I think they often fail.  I am a fan of ongoing, creative, and impactful efforts to build awareness for your service.  Consumers (and businesses too) often need to hear of your company multiple times before they actually try your product.  You need to draw them to trial by making your brand feel familiar, authentic, and attractive.  

When you accomplish this, you may still fail miserably if the product fails at delivering on its promise.  That’s not what this post is about.  I also admit that there are cases where products fly under the radar, but build a great user base just because they are great products (take Instapaper, for example). But something usually happens that really gets them noticed.  That’s one reason why so many entrepreneurs are launching products at SXSW after it was such a helpful venue for FourSquare to get attention.  Although I have to wonder whether it is really the best place to get noticed now that everyone is vying for attention in that venue. 

Would love to hear people’s thoughts.  I could also make the argument that this is all BS and this kind of marketing is a waste of time.  I used to think that… but not sure if I do anymore.